Work on Project 23560 destroyer detailed design to begin in Russia after 2020

Work on the detailed design for the future Project 23560 Leader-class destroyer is planned to begin in Russia after 2020, a source in Russia’s defense industry told TASS.

Scale model showing the Project 23560E "Shkval-class" Destroyer (export variant of Leader-class) at Army 2016 exhibition. Twelve ships of the 10,000t "Leader class" are planned to enter service from 2023-25, split between the Northern and Pacific Fleets. They will all be nuclear powered. They will be fitted with the ABM-capable S-500 SAM and Kalibr (SS-N-27) cruise missile.

The ship will be built by the Northern Shipyard in St. Petersburg in northwest Russia, the source added.

"Work on the detailed design for the Leader-class destroy with a nuclear power plant will begin after 2020. The construction of the lead ship is expected to start in 2025," the source said.

According to the source, Project 23560 destroyers will be built by the Northern Shipyard.

As the source said, the shipyard is planned to build two landing helicopter docks and then launch the construction of the destroyers. TASS does not have any official confirmation of this information.

Scale model showing the Project 23560E "Shkval-class" Destroyer (export variant of Leader-class) at Army 2016 exhibition. Twelve ships of the 10,000t "Leader class" are planned to enter service from 2023-25, split between the Northern and Pacific Fleets. They will all be nuclear powered. They will be fitted with the ABM-capable S-500 SAM and Kalibr (SS-N-27) cruise missile.

President of Russia’s United Shipbuilding Corporation Alexei Rakhmanov said during a visit to the Northern Shipyard on November 29, 2017 that the shipyard would be able to build destroyers and landing helicopter docks for the Russian Navy after 2020.

Rakhmanov also said that the shipyard was building a new 75-meter high slipway. It will allow organizing the production of various maritime constructions and warships of 250x70 meters in size at the biggest construction site.

The future Project 23560 Leader-class destroyer is expected to replace the Project 956 and Project 1155 ships that make up the mainstay of the Navy’s general-purpose ocean-operating forces.The Project 23560 destroyer will have a nuclear power plant. It will be armed with Kalibr (NATO reporting name: SS-N-27 Sizzler) and Oniks (SS-N-26 Strobile) missile systems or their versions and a shipborne version of the S-500 air defense missile system able to ensure ballistic missile defense.